New crime lab a neccessity, police officials say

Published: Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, February 6, 2013 at 8:52 p.m.

The state’s crime lab was flooded with more than 42,000 submissions of evidence to test in 2011, and had only 124 scientists to work on them — when they weren’t in court testifying.

In many cases, the overwhelming lab work is now running about a year behind. But a pair of bills filed in the N.C. General Assembly last week aim to make a dent in the problem by appropriating funds for a new Western Crime Lab at the Justice Academy in Edneyville.

The Hendersonville Police Department typically waits three to six months or longer to get test results back from the state’s lab in Raleigh. For the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office, the turnaround is often six to eight months.

Their wait time is lower than the state’s average, but they also face the painful costs of shipping.

A “perfect storm of insufficient staffing, escalating case submissions and the judicial requirement that lab scientists personally appear in every court proceeding has taxed the lab’s current capacity to the limit,” said Joseph John Sr., director of the N.C. State Crime Laboratory.

The new facility called for in the bills would replace the current undersized western lab, which operates in a leased building that offers no room for expansion in Skyland. Development of the lab is estimated to cost about $16.7 million.

The western lab specializes in drug chemistry, latent evidence and firearm and toolmark analysis. All requests for drug toxicology services, DNA analysis and digital evidence tests must be outsourced to labs in Raleigh and Greensboro.

The new lab would be equipped to handle all of the services.

“I think any time you can offer advanced services like what this lab will offer on a regional basis, everybody wins,” said Hendersonville Police Chief Herbert Blake. He suspects the department would see an improvement in the wait time for results.

Hendersonville Police Capt. Doug Jones said most of the evidence they submit to Raleigh is shipped through the mail. A closer lab, he said, “would be a blessing.”

Capt. Frank Stout of the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office agreed that a closer lab would help them substantially in “drive time and man hours.” An officer from the department was in Raleigh Wednesday delivering evidence from a recent homicide investigation. Stout estimated the officer will have logged a 10-hour day and more than 500 miles.

Increase in evidence

Henderson County submitted 546 evidence items for testing during the July 2011-June 2012 fiscal year. In 2010, however, the submissions had climbed to 683, up from 610 in 2009, according to John.

A significant increase in the demand for drug toxicology services, DNA analysis and digital evidence evaluations from criminal justice agencies has created a greater need for expanded crime lab services, according to information released by the N.C. Department of Justice.

State Sen. Tom Apodaca, R-Hendersonville, said some DNA submissions can take up to three years to process and several cases have had to be dismissed to avoid violating the state’s speedy trial law.

In most cases, John said, results on submissions for DNA and toxicology tests are running nine to 12 months behind in the lab, where the goal is to “try to deal with truly exigent circumstances first.”

In North Carolina, the nation’s 10th most populous state, more than 20,000 law enforcement officers and 600 agencies submit evidence to the state crime lab, according to John. “Submissions in 2011 rose by 15 percent, exceeding 42,000,” he added.

Fewer personnel

As the number of cases grows, however, the number of scientists to process them dwindles. There has been no increase in staff since 2007, John said, and in 2011 the workforce of 129 scientists was trimmed by five positions.

The 124 analysts remaining are not only tasked with tackling the towering case submissions, but also with mandated appearances in every court case they work.

The state has 12 toxicologists on staff. In fiscal year 2009, the scientists spent 20,000 to 40,000 hours in the lab analyzing 10,000 submissions of blood for the presence of alcohol and/or drugs.

Twelve toxicologists working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, would normally put in 24,960 man hours, but the forensic analysts were also required to appear in court for each case they worked.

“Lab analysts are routinely required to do mandatory overtime,” John said.

Analyzing submissions for the presence of alcohol alone takes about two hours, he said, and testing evidence for alcohol and drugs or drugs alone takes up to four hours.

“We don’t have enough right now even if our folks worked literally every minute of every day,” he added.

The U.S. Supreme Court decided in 2009 that crime forensic analysts testifying in court through affidavits in lieu of an in-person appearance violated the confrontation clause of the U.S. Constitution. DNA scientists in Raleigh and toxicologists from Raleigh and Greensboro now head out to appear in cases from Murphy to Manteo.

“The court time expended by lab toxicologists multiplied 400 percent in a single year to 2,368.5 hours during 2010,” John said in information released to the N.C. General Assembly and media Friday. “Similarly, DNA analyst court time has doubled since 2009 and in 2011 exceeded over 800 hours of analyst time away from casework in the lab.

“They can’t be working in the laboratory when they’re in their automobiles driving to court,” John said.

Twenty-five scientists work for the state crime lab on DNA submissions, which rose to 3,915 in 2011. Depending on the number of items submitted in each case, tests can take anywhere from two days to several weeks to complete, John said.

Assuming all 3,915 submissions took two days each to test, he said the total time required for analysis would take 62,640 hours – the 40-hour-a-week workload of 30 scientists.

DNA tests are relied upon to identify suspects, convict the guilty, exonerate the innocent, eliminate potential subjects of investigation and bring closure to victims, according to the DOJ.

John said that 260 individuals have been exonerated as suspects using the DNA database in the last two years.

Expanding in Edneyville

Apodaca, who introduced Senate Bill 3 to fund the construction and staffing of the Western Crime Lab in Edneyville on state-owned land, said budget constraints may require them to lease a new space for a lab for now. Future construction costs, however, could drive the price estimate up.

The 36,050-square-foot addition to the Justice Training Academy is estimated to cost a total of $20,553,908 (including construction, design, salaries of 28 staff positions, operating costs and start-up equipment). The figure is more than five times what it would cost to lease a larger space.

The DOJ estimates a 36,050-square-foot facility would require a lease of $972,000 a year (for a total of $3,524,412 in operating costs with the lease), locked in for at least a 10-year term.

But by year two, the state would be saving more than half-a-million dollars a year in debt payments.

“With a construction approach, the state would invest more capital up front. However, the state would not have to pay rent or lease charges after 17.2 years to cover the up-front construction costs when compared to a lease approach,” according to the DOJ.

<p>The state's crime lab was flooded with more than 42,000 submissions of evidence to test in 2011, and had only 124 scientists to work on them — when they weren't in court testifying.</p><p>In many cases, the overwhelming lab work is now running about a year behind. But a pair of bills filed in the N.C. General Assembly last week aim to make a dent in the problem by appropriating funds for a new Western Crime Lab at the Justice Academy in Edneyville.</p><p>The Hendersonville Police Department typically waits three to six months or longer to get test results back from the state's lab in Raleigh. For the Henderson County Sheriff's Office, the turnaround is often six to eight months. </p><p>Their wait time is lower than the state's average, but they also face the painful costs of shipping. </p><p>A “perfect storm of insufficient staffing, escalating case submissions and the judicial requirement that lab scientists personally appear in every court proceeding has taxed the lab's current capacity to the limit,” said Joseph John Sr., director of the N.C. State Crime Laboratory.</p><p>The new facility called for in the bills would replace the current undersized western lab, which operates in a leased building that offers no room for expansion in Skyland. Development of the lab is estimated to cost about $16.7 million. </p><p>The western lab specializes in drug chemistry, latent evidence and firearm and toolmark analysis. All requests for drug toxicology services, DNA analysis and digital evidence tests must be outsourced to labs in Raleigh and Greensboro. </p><p>The new lab would be equipped to handle all of the services.</p><p>“I think any time you can offer advanced services like what this lab will offer on a regional basis, everybody wins,” said Hendersonville Police Chief Herbert Blake. He suspects the department would see an improvement in the wait time for results.</p><p>Hendersonville Police Capt. Doug Jones said most of the evidence they submit to Raleigh is shipped through the mail. A closer lab, he said, “would be a blessing.”</p><p>Capt. Frank Stout of the Henderson County Sheriff's Office agreed that a closer lab would help them substantially in “drive time and man hours.” An officer from the department was in Raleigh Wednesday delivering evidence from a recent homicide investigation. Stout estimated the officer will have logged a 10-hour day and more than 500 miles.</p><p>Increase in evidence</p><p>Henderson County submitted 546 evidence items for testing during the July 2011-June 2012 fiscal year. In 2010, however, the submissions had climbed to 683, up from 610 in 2009, according to John.</p><p>A significant increase in the demand for drug toxicology services, DNA analysis and digital evidence evaluations from criminal justice agencies has created a greater need for expanded crime lab services, according to information released by the N.C. Department of Justice.</p><p>State Sen. Tom Apodaca, R-Hendersonville, said some DNA submissions can take up to three years to process and several cases have had to be dismissed to avoid violating the state's speedy trial law.</p><p>In most cases, John said, results on submissions for DNA and toxicology tests are running nine to 12 months behind in the lab, where the goal is to “try to deal with truly exigent circumstances first.”</p><p>In North Carolina, the nation's 10th most populous state, more than 20,000 law enforcement officers and 600 agencies submit evidence to the state crime lab, according to John. “Submissions in 2011 rose by 15 percent, exceeding 42,000,” he added.</p><p>Fewer personnel </p><p>As the number of cases grows, however, the number of scientists to process them dwindles. There has been no increase in staff since 2007, John said, and in 2011 the workforce of 129 scientists was trimmed by five positions.</p><p>The 124 analysts remaining are not only tasked with tackling the towering case submissions, but also with mandated appearances in every court case they work.</p><p>The state has 12 toxicologists on staff. In fiscal year 2009, the scientists spent 20,000 to 40,000 hours in the lab analyzing 10,000 submissions of blood for the presence of alcohol and/or drugs. </p><p>Twelve toxicologists working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, would normally put in 24,960 man hours, but the forensic analysts were also required to appear in court for each case they worked. </p><p>“Lab analysts are routinely required to do mandatory overtime,” John said. </p><p>Analyzing submissions for the presence of alcohol alone takes about two hours, he said, and testing evidence for alcohol and drugs or drugs alone takes up to four hours. </p><p>“We don't have enough right now even if our folks worked literally every minute of every day,” he added. </p><p>The U.S. Supreme Court decided in 2009 that crime forensic analysts testifying in court through affidavits in lieu of an in-person appearance violated the confrontation clause of the U.S. Constitution. DNA scientists in Raleigh and toxicologists from Raleigh and Greensboro now head out to appear in cases from Murphy to Manteo. </p><p>“The court time expended by lab toxicologists multiplied 400 percent in a single year to 2,368.5 hours during 2010,” John said in information released to the N.C. General Assembly and media Friday. “Similarly, DNA analyst court time has doubled since 2009 and in 2011 exceeded over 800 hours of analyst time away from casework in the lab.</p><p>“They can't be working in the laboratory when they're in their automobiles driving to court,” John said.</p><p>Twenty-five scientists work for the state crime lab on DNA submissions, which rose to 3,915 in 2011. Depending on the number of items submitted in each case, tests can take anywhere from two days to several weeks to complete, John said. </p><p>Assuming all 3,915 submissions took two days each to test, he said the total time required for analysis would take 62,640 hours – the 40-hour-a-week workload of 30 scientists.</p><p>DNA tests are relied upon to identify suspects, convict the guilty, exonerate the innocent, eliminate potential subjects of investigation and bring closure to victims, according to the DOJ.</p><p>John said that 260 individuals have been exonerated as suspects using the DNA database in the last two years.</p><p>Expanding in Edneyville </p><p>Apodaca, who introduced Senate Bill 3 to fund the construction and staffing of the Western Crime Lab in Edneyville on state-owned land, said budget constraints may require them to lease a new space for a lab for now. Future construction costs, however, could drive the price estimate up.</p><p>The 36,050-square-foot addition to the Justice Training Academy is estimated to cost a total of $20,553,908 (including construction, design, salaries of 28 staff positions, operating costs and start-up equipment). The figure is more than five times what it would cost to lease a larger space.</p><p>The DOJ estimates a 36,050-square-foot facility would require a lease of $972,000 a year (for a total of $3,524,412 in operating costs with the lease), locked in for at least a 10-year term. </p><p>But by year two, the state would be saving more than half-a-million dollars a year in debt payments. </p><p>“With a construction approach, the state would invest more capital up front. However, the state would not have to pay rent or lease charges after 17.2 years to cover the up-front construction costs when compared to a lease approach,” according to the DOJ.</p><p>Reach Weaver at emily.weaver@blueridgenow.com or 828-694-7867.</p>